The Land of Dreams
by Aix98
Summary: (A/N:Sequel to the Seventh Child) A/U. Now that Zeus is suffering at the pit of Tartarus, a new threat emerges, one that puts the gods to sleep and entraps them in their dream. The only way to wake up the gods is by releasing them from their dream prison, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Plus, Percy now has to take care of his newly found daughter and Artemis. Will they succeed?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here we go again...**

**Chapter 1**

Percy ducked under Artemis's hunting knife and swiped his leg under Artemis. She fell down to the ground roughly before rolling away from Percy's strike. She swiftly took her bow out and fired two arrows at the same time at Percy. Percy countered and fired his guns to deflect her arrows.

Artemis grunted and fired again, but Percy just weaved side by side with ease, dodging her arrows at full speed. Artemis wanted to fire another volley, but Percy's sword tip was already pressed to her neck. Artemis snarled at him while Percy just grinned. He leaned in and whispered to Artemis. "I win,"

"Fine," She grumbled, clearly unsatisfied. She pushed Percy's blade away and glared at her boyfriend.

Percy ruffled her hair affectionately "Hey, it's not every day I beat the Goddess of the Hunt,"

"In melee combat," Artemis corrected. "If we're limited to ranged weaponry, I would've beaten me,"

"Maybe," Percy shrugged. Artemis just hit him on the shoulder before Percy kissed her forehead. Then, they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. They turned around and saw Apollo leaning on a tree casually with an amused smile on his face.

"Glad to see my sister's finally getting beaten," Apollo said. "Whoa!" He ducked as a silver arrow flew over him. "Calm down sis, geez! I was just kidding,"

"Are you really joking?" Artemis grumbled, notching another arrow.

"Hey, God of Truth, remember?" Apollo grinned. "Anyway, Hestia asked for a quick meeting in thirty minutes."

"We'll be there," Percy said. Apollo gave an appreciative nod and flashed away. "Don't you think he's spoiling you too much?" Percy looked at Artemis.

"No one is spoiling me," Artemis grumbled.

"Well, I do," Percy said and kissed her on the lips. No matter how many times he did it, Artemis still felt like she was melting with sensation. Whenever she kiss Percy, her heart did jumping jacks and her senses dulled. "You liked that,"

Artemis blushed. "You lips just taste sweet, that's all,"

"Well, thank you for your compliment," Percy grinned.

Then, Lily and Julia came bursting from the trees and tackled Percy to the ground while giggling. "Percy!"

Percy grunted. "Don't you know that I am an Olympian god?"

"Not to us," Julia giggled. "To me, you're my brother," Percy managed to untangle himself from the duo and stood up. "A big and powerful brother,"

Percy chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Why are you guys here?" Artemis asked with a smile.

"Oh, Trish caught a wild boar, so we thought you might want to look at it," Lily explained.

"I'll be there in a minute," Artemis said. The girls nodded and ran off back to their camp.

"Don't kill the bunnies!" Percy joked. Julia responded by sending a fireball straight at him. Percy just held his hand out and blocked it. "I swear those girls learn all this violence from you,"

"They're hunters, what do you expect?" Artemis grinned. "Now, are you coming to camp?"

"Go on ahead," Percy said. "There's something I've gotta do. I'll see you at the meeting in Olympus,"

Artemis nodded and gave Percy a quick peck on the lips before flashing to her camp while Percy flashed to the Big House of Camp Half Blood. As soon as he arrived, someone screamed in surprise behind him. He also jumped n response. He turned around to see Thalia wide eyed in surprise.

"Geez!" Thalia exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that, Percy!"

"I'm an Olympian god," Percy explained. "Why does everyone address me like I'm their next door neighbour?"

"Hey, you're the one who hated to be called Lord and all that, so that's on you," Thalia said. Percy shrugged because she did have a point. "So, why did you pop out of nowhere?"

"Where's Chiron?"

"I think he's in the archery range,"

"Can you call Sophia for me?" Percy asked. Thalia nodded and ran out of the Big House. Percy sat on one of the couches facing the fireplace. He waved her hand and lit the fireplace. Soon, he heard the sound of footsteps rapidly coming towards him. He looked towards the door to see Sophia grinning at him giddily and launched herself at him.

"Daddy!" She said as she hugged her father. Percy smiled lightly as he embraced his daughter. No one knew of her identity except for him and Chiron. It's been a few weeks after he'd discovered her and he'd visited her often. Usually once a day, or maybe once every two days, but he always visited and because of that, Sophia was happy. She didn't have a father and mother for the last seven years of her life, so it's kind of a big deal for Percy to be there always for her.

"Hey there Sophie," Percy chuckled. "Had fun today?"

"Chiron taught me how to shoot an arrow,"

"And how did you do?"

"She did well," A voice said from the door. Percy turned around to see his old mentor in centaur form smiling at him. "Surprisingly, she did not posses your talent at being horrible in archery,"

"Thanks for that," Percy said sarcastically. Chiron chuckled. "Are you okay here, Sophia?"

Sophia nodded with a bit of enthusiasm. "Although Annabeth always called me a slowpoke. Aren't you the god of time, daddy?"

"Being a descended of time can make you feel lazy," Percy explained to his daughter. "So next time if she calls you slowpoke, just say you have all the time in the world, okay?"

"I don't think that's a useful advice," Chiron muttered. "Anyway, I have matters to talk with you personally, Perseus,"

Percy nodded. "Daddy has to talk with the horse guy for a moment. Go and impress some campers, okay?" Chiron raised an eyebrow at the nickname while Sophia giggled and left the two to talk in private. "What?" Percy smirked when he found Chiron looking at him. Then, the centaur's face turned serious.

"Perseus, there's something weird going on around here,"

"We're living in a Greek world," Percy rolled his eyes. "Everything's weird. You're gonna have to be more specific than that,"

"The demigods," Chiron sighed. "They often tell me that they have a bad dream and all of them are vaguely familiar. They dreamt of the destruction of the world and a voice that asked them to abandon Olympus and join his forces,"

"And who is this aforementioned voice?"

"I'm afraid that they do not know that. They always gave vague details but there was one thing in common, it's always nightmares." Chiron explained.

Percy nodded. "Look after the demigods. Don't scare them and just tell them its just one bad dream. But if things gets worse, report to me,"

Chiron nodded. "As you wish, Perseus,"

"Teach Sophia well, okay? I'm going to Olympus for a meeting." Percy said. Chiron nodded as Percy flashed away and arrived at Olympus's throne room. The place looked as grand as ever, but it looked better without Zeus in the council. The prick is still in Tartarus and hopefully, he's suffering.

That's a bit mean.

Inside the throne room, no one was there yet. It seems like he was the first one to arrive, which was a first. Usually, he'll be the last if Apollo wasn't.

Then, Hermes bursts into the throne room. He looked around frantically and saw Percy, who was surprised with his arrival. "Percy! Oh thank gods,"

"What's wrong?" Percy asked. "Why is everyone late?"

"Late? No, you're ten minutes late for the meeting. Everyone else is asleep," Hermes said with panic.

"So, everyone's asleep," Percy repeated. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Hermes shook his head. "Come with me," Hermes put a hand on his shoulder and flashed him away. A second later, they arrived at what appears to be Hera's bedroom. Hera was in her nightgown, sleeping with a frown on her face.

"Are you spying on my sister?" Percy asked.

"What? No! I wanted to fetch her for the meeting and well, look," Hermes said. Percy looked closer to see Hera's expression wasn't a frown, but she was in deep pain. Like someone was torturing her in her sleep. "I tried waking her up, but every time I did, she would squirm around as if I was killing her."

"Hera," Percy said softly and laid a hand on her forehead. Instantly, like Hermes said, she squirmed and thrashed around as if Percy's hand was made out of hot iron. Percy retracted his hand and Hera stopped moving, but her face was still in a pained expression. "This is bad,"

"You know what's worse?" Hermes asked. "All of the other Olympians are like this too,"

"Wait, you mean Artemis . . ." Percy didn't finish his sentence as Hermes just nodded. "I'll be right back," He said and flashed to the Hunt's campsite. When he arrived, the hunters were crowded around Artemis's tent. When Lily saw him, he ran toward him.

"Percy! Thank gods you're here. It's Artemis, she's-"

"I know, Lily," Percy said and went into Artemis's tent where her hunters made a path for him. Inside, Artemis was lying down on a bed and she was breathing heavily. Her skin was beaded with sweat and she was pale. Pain was evident in her expression as everyone looked at her with worry. "She's been like that just after she got back from meeting you,"

"Every time we tried to wake her, she was move around in pain," Julia said. "We didn't know what to do,"

Percy looked at his girlfriend with worry. Whoever's doing this was causing her and the other Olympians some serious pain, and Percy was going to find out why.

"Whatever you do, don't try to wake her but keep a close eye on her in case anything happens." Percy said. "You hunters just stay here and guard your mistress, don't let anything harm her, got it?" Aside from Artemis, Percy was the only immortal who could tell the hunters what to do. They nodded.

"Percy," Lily tugged at Percy's shirt. "Most of the hunters here had bad dreams every time they fell asleep. It's getting more and more frequent."

"The demigods at Camp Half-Blood are going through the same thing," Percy said. "Something's happening, and I'm going to find out what,"

"We're coming with you," Julia said.

"No, stay here and look after Artemis," Percy said, but both girls shook their head.

"We're gonna help her by going with you and finding out what's happening. I'm not going to buy the girl who sits around and watches her mistress in trouble. The Hunt can take care of her." Lily said.

"And you can't stop us, so let's go together," Julia said.

Percy couldn't believe he'd just been beaten by a couple of immortal hunters that were thousands of years younger than him. "I swear some of Artemis's annoyance has rubbed on you. Let's go," Percy said. He put one hand on Julia's and Lily's shoulders before flashing to the throne room of Olympus, where Hermes was waiting in panic.

"You're finally here," Hermes said. "Hello, Hunters of Artemis,"

"Lord Hermes," Both girls bowed respectfully.

"How come you're not asleep?" Percy asked.

"I'm the God of Messages. I'm always on the roll." Hermes said. "Now, we need to find out what's really happening."

"Well, I have one thing in mind," Lily said.

"What is it?"

"Since everyone is in pain while they're sleeping, why don't we ask the God of Sleep, Hypnos?"

They stared at her.

"That's actually a good idea," Hermes said. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"I really don't want to know," Percy said. "So, how do we get to Hypnos?"

"Really dude?"

"What?"

"You know how to get to Selene, but not Hypnos?"

"Hey, I don't have the Olympians Map of Gods in pocket, so you can't blame me, okay?"

"But Hypnos is like the easiest god to find and-"

"My Lords!" Julia almost shouted. "We have something to do, don't we? We have to save the other Olympians,"

"Yeah, yeah," Percy grumbled. Hermes snapped his fingers and they were all teleported to a place called 'Olympian Beds and Mattresses' with a huge neon crown above the sign. He looked at Hermes with exasperation. "You can't be serious,"

"Believe it or not, the God of Sleep is in retail business of selling something you sleep on," Hermes looked at Percy as if this should be obvious. "Anyway, I have something to do. I've got to check on the other immortals, to see who else is sleeping. Oh, and be careful of Hypnos's guardian."

"Wait, what guardian?" Percy asked but by the time, Hermes had already flashed away, leaving Percy, Julia and Lily. They looked at him, waiting for his orders. "Weapons out," Percy said. Lily readied her bow and Julia took out her sword. The sheer intensity of the heat from her sword was enough to make Percy sweat heavily. "Be quiet and keep a close eye on everything,"

They trudged closer to the store to find that the inside was dark, which means it's already closed down for business. "Can we come back tomorrow to see if it's open?" Julia asked.

Percy ignored her and opened the door slowly. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. The store seemed darker than it is from the outside. "Stay close to me," The group trudged deeper into the store, slowly taking their steps. Beds and mattresses were lined up in this store for sale, and all of them looked comfortable enough to sleep on. The store seemed to stretch on forever.

"I'm feeling a bit drowsy," Lily said, rubbing her eyes. "Is it just me or everything's getting blurry?"

"Don't fall asleep," Percy said. As he said that, voices whispered everywhere around them, urging them to just lie down for a moment, take a nap on the comfortable beds around them. "And don't listen to them,"

Julia yawned. "I swear I'm going to sleep standing up,"

"This place is-" He was interrupted when something knocked him backwards. Luckily, he landed on one of the mattresses. Unluckily, the mattress was booby trapped and some kind of belt contraption lashed out from each side of the mattress and latched together, trapping Percy. "Talk about not ever leaving your bed," He muttered. He looked around to see Julia and Lily already half asleep. "Julia! Lily!"

"Uh?" Julia looked around and yawned.

"I'll brush my teeth later Artemis," Lily muttered drowsily.

"Leave them alone!" Percy shouted into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

"Ah," A voice said, making Percy's eyelids heavy, but he kept them open. "Perseus, the newest addition to the Olympian family,"

"Hypnos," Percy grumbled, trying hard to stay awake. "Where are you?"

There was the sound of wind rustling and whispering around them. Percy felt the wind swirled around to the side of the mattress that he was on and materialized to him. Hypnos wore a brown robe which was good, because Percy knew if he took one look on his face, he would instantly fall asleep. "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

"The same can't be said for me," Percy said, struggling in his bonds. "Can you release me?"

"Can you guarantee that you won't attack me and my pet?" Hypnos asked.

"Your pet?" Percy asked. Hypnos waved his hand and something became visible in the darkness. It was a dark mass of cloud that floated lightly above Percy, which Percy found incredibly uncomfortable. Even though it was jut a cloud, Percy knew it couldn't be harmless. "Oh, that dark cloud? How did I miss that?"

"Your sarcasm is amusing," Hypnos said. "Now if you wish to be released, please abide by my terms. You are, in fact, in my territory,"

"Okay," Percy sighed. "We won't harm you or your pet."

Hypnos seemed to believe that. He snapped his fingers and the belt detached itself and retracted back into the mattress. "Now, you'd better have a good reason to be here other than buying my mattresses."

"First off, can you keep Julia and Lily awake?" Percy asked. Hypnos sighed and snapped his fingers, and the girls shot instantly awake. They looked around and finally laid eyes on Percy.

"What just happened?" Julia asked as she yawned.

"You almost fell asleep," Hypnos explained. Then, he turned towards Percy. "Now tell me, why did you come here?"

"We're here to ask you about something," Percy said, standing up. "Recently, some of the demigods have gone asleep and they're not waking up,"

"I noticed that," Hypnos said.

"Well, they seemed to be in deep pain and whenever we tried waking them up, they resisted and trashed around."

"And you think I did it?" Hypnos asked quizzically.

"Well, I don't think you did it. But you're the God of Sleep, so I thought you might have an idea of what's going on," Percy explained. Julia and Lily were too busy trying to stay awake. The place was enough to make anyone fall asleep.

Hypnos turned around. "And why should I help you?"

"Because if you don't, then our mistress won't wake up," Julia argued, but Percy held her back.

"I don't see that as a problem. I think it's better for the gods to be asleep. At least Olympus wouldn't be in such a chaos," He said with disdain. It was clear that he wasn't happy with Olympus.

"Hestia's in charge now, didn't you hear?" Percy said. "Things are going to be a lot better than when Zeus is in reign,"

"Hestia, Zeus, Poseidon, doesn't matter who's in charge," He snarled. "We minor gods are still ignored, doing regular duties as if we didn't matter. I'll tell you what, God of time, we're just as important as any other gods,"

"For a god of sleep, you're really grumpy," Percy said. "Okay, here's the deal, you help us and I'll make sure the minor gods get some recognition,"

"Bah!" Hypnos spat. "Your promises are just as good as my deals for a king sized mattress,"

"I'm guessing that's a good thing?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. The Olympian gods not waking up isn't my fault. That would be my son, Morpheus,"

"You mean, the God of Dreams?" Lily asked as she rubbed her eyes.

Hypnos nodded and turned back to them. "Their sleep was my doing, of course, but sleep comes naturally. They are now in the realm of my son, Morpheus."

"Can't we bring them back out?" Julia asked.

Hypnos shrugged. "The Realm of Morpheus is a realm with an open gate. You can come and go as you please, but for now, your friends are trapped. People can go in, but none can exit the realm."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid you'd have to ask my son about that," Hypnos said. "That's all I can help you about. Now if you won't buy any mattresses, I suggest you leave my place,"

**Line Break**

Percy was back on Olympus, where he met Hermes. "So, what did you find out?"

"They're trapped in Morpheus's Realm," Percy explained. Hermes looked at him like he couldn't believe how ridiculous that sounded.

"You mean, like the Inception thing?"

"That's not how I would put it, but yeah, they're trapped in a dream," Percy said. "Whatever they're dealing with, it's hurting them mentally and that's never good."

Hermes nodded in agreement. "So, what now? Are you going to look for Morpheus?"

Percy nodded. "Let me guess, he's in some stupid place like 'Bed Bath and Beyond', right?"

Hermes frowned with confusion. "I hope that was a joke, because that was bad. Unfortunately, Morpheus is one of the gods that hides very well from Olympus. We don't know where he is right now, but we know he's hiding,"

"Well, aren't we off to a good start," Percy grumbled. "Is there anyone else who could help us with this shit?"

"Well, that hasn't been affected are Nemesis, Hecate, Iris and several other gods and goddesses."

"Maybe Hecate can help," Lily said. "She can do magic and stuff, right?"

"I don't know about that, but it can't hurt to try, right?"

**Realm of Morpheus**

All Artemis asked for is a peaceful thirty minute sleep before going to another yet stressful council meeting. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so.

As soon as Artemis went to sleep, her consciousness never did fade, but she couldn't move her body. It was like sleep paralysis. She could think, her senses are working, but her body won't move.

Then, she could feel her consciousness slowly being drifted into another place, like she was flying through space. She felt weightless and relaxed at the same time. A scene formed around her. She remembered the place. It was Delos, where she and Apollo were born. What was she doing here, Artemis had no idea.

The scene looked pretty real to be a dream and plus, you can't think in a dream.

Delos was just as beautiful as she remembered, but it all turned wrong when a roar was heard behind her. Artemis turned around to see the very beast she dreaded when she was a child. The dragon, Python.

"It had to be you," Artemis grumbled. "Why couldn't it be something less dangerous, like Atlas?"

Then, she had to battle the dragon for hours. Artemis was sure this was a dream, but when the dragon managed to wound her, the wound felt very real and painful. There were some point of time when she felt something was grabbing her hand really hard and was shaking her, as if they were trying to wake her, but it only made things worse as the Python managed to wound her again.

Artemis was tired right now and she had no choice but to flee, or at least find a place to rest.

She had no idea what was going on, but she wished it would stop. The place was draining her like never before, because Artemis knew her stamina wasn't this weak. Something was weakening her and she needed to find out what.

**Real World**

"You need help of waking someone up?" Hecate asked. "Why? That's like one of the easiest things to do in this world,"

"Not this time," Percy said. "The Olympians are trapped in a dream world and whenever I try to wake them up, they looked like they were being tortured mentally."

Hecate leaned back on her office chair and crossed her legs. She looked like a gypsy fortune teller with her getup, but Percy wasn't going to tell her that.

"I do have one thing that could wake even someone in their deepest slumber," Hecate said. "But I only have enough for one person. It would take me another decade to make another one, so use it wisely."

"Thank you, Hecate,"

"But," Hecate stopped him. "I believe I deserve some payment for such a big favour,"

"And what kind of payment will you ask for?"

"Ask me later, after you've completed your task," Hecate said with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Percy wondered what that was about, but he just nodded. Hecate handed him a vial of light blue liquid that shimmered its own light. "Remember, make sure they drink the whole thing,"

"Thank you, Hecate," Percy said before flashing towards the campsite of the Hunt. The hunters were surprised and jumped into action when Percy flashed in, but when they noticed it was Percy, they calmed down.

"Percy," A hunter called. She was around sixteen and looked very much like Artemis, but instead of auburn hair, her hair was brown with streaks of purple. Her name was Cecil. "Did you find out anything?"

"I'll tell you about it later," Percy nodded. "Where's Artemis?"

"She's in her tent," Cecil said. "She seems to be getting worse by the hour,"

Percy rushed towards Artemis's tent. Cecil was right. Artemis was now deathly pale and her body was shivering. Percy wasted no time in taking out that vial and forcing it down Artemis's throat. He waited for one second, another second . . . Artemis coughed and her eyes fluttered open.

"Thank gods," Percy hugged her closely. The hunters sighed in relief to see their mistress finally waking up.

"P-Percy," Her teeth chattered. Percy noticed that she was unbelievably cold. "I'm cold,"

Percy grabbed a blanked and wrapped it around her as he cuddled closer with her, sharing his body warmth. "It's okay, I'm here now. You're awake now." Percy gave a meaningful look at the hunters and they left Percy and Artemis alone.

"I had a nightmare," Artemis explained. She finally stopped shivering and her temperature had risen, but she was still cold. She cuddled closer with Percy, enjoying her warmth. "I was back in Delos, fighting Python,"

"You mean the snake?"

"Dragon," Artemis whispered. "I couldn't beat it. I hid in the forest for hours, shivering from the cold. But it found me. It would've eaten me if you hadn't . . ." She started to sob.

"Hey, it's okay," Percy said soothingly. "It's just a nightmare, right? You're awake now."

Artemis sniffed a few times before she wiped her eyes. "Gods, I'm so childish. I can't believe I let a dream scare me," Artemis didn't want to cry in front of Percy because she didn't want him to see how weak she was right now.

"Hey, none of us are perfect," Percy said. That made Artemis feel a bit better.

"What are you doing here?" Artemis asked, resting her head on Percy's chest, enjoying the comfort in his presence. "Shouldn't you be up in Olympus?"

Percy sighed. "I've got some bad news."

"What is it?"

"The Olympian council, they're asleep,"

Artemis frowned. "That's not really a bad news,"

"That wasn't it," Percy said. "The bad news is that they're trapped in a dream, like you,"

Artemis stared at him with confusion. "Trapped in a dream?"

Percy nodded. "They're asleep and trapped in Morpheus's realm, and they can't wake up unless they exit the dream."

"Well, let's just wake them up like you did with me,"

"That won't be possible," Percy said. "When you try to wake them up, they'll start thrashing and moving around, making it impossible. I woke you up with a potion that Hecate gave me, but that was the only one she had,"

"Then make some more of that potion,"

"That would take ten more years and we can't take that long," Percy said. "I've talked to Hypnos and he said that he didn't do it. Whether or not Morpheus is the one to blame, we still need to talk to him,"

Artemis nodded. "Morpheus hides himself well. Even I don't know where he is,"

"Hermes is awake. He's trying to track down the God of Dreams, to see if he could find him."

"I guess we better help him," Artemis said. Before leaving the bed, Artemis gave Percy a long and passionate kiss. "Thanks for waking me up,"

"You know, if you're going to reward me every time I wake you up, I'll be happy to be your personal alarm clock," Percy joked.

"Don't push it," Artemis smirked.

Well, at least now they're progressing.

**A/N: Huh, I know you guys are gonna be like wtf? But hey, I can update when I want. So, like I promised, Sophia (Percy's daughter) will play a huge role in this so just stay tuned. This is just the beginning of things, and then shit will hit the fan fast. I haven't seen a thing about Morpheus's realm, so I thought I'd write about it. So get ready guys, we're going to take an adventure into dreaming!**

**. . .**

**That was weird. I swear I'll never do that again. Anyway, I hoped you liked it, leave a review if you like or hate it, like I said, a review always helps. Until then, take care.**

**P/S: As you're reading this, I'm currently shitting in the toilet.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the weird P/S note . . . And yeah, school happened so that about explains why I updated so late.**

**Chapter 2**

By the time Artemis and Percy reached Olympus, Julia and Lily were sparring against each other so that they wouldn't fall asleep. Knowing that they would be trapped, they tried their best to stay awake.

"Lady Artemis!" Lily exclaimed happily and hugged her. Julia did the same and hugged their mistress as well. "You're awake!"

"Yep, thanks to Percy," Artemis smiled. "Good to see you are as well,"

"Except for you, Hermes and me, the rest of the council are asleep," Percy explained. "So, we need to find Morpheus fast,"

"There's no way this would be like, a big problem, right?" Julia asked. "I mean, they're just having nightmares."

Artemis smiled at the young hunters. "Dreams are essential for someone's mentality, Julia. If you had a good dream, then you can perform exceptionally well. If you have nightmares, well, you're gonna have a bad day. But should someone be kept in nightmares for too long . . ."

Percy nodded. "Knowing the gods, they probably get good dreams all the time. Either they rarely or never get nightmares. This might be their first time having a bad dream. The council is already stressed enough when they had good dreams. So if they're kept in a nightmare for far too long, it might drive them insane, which leads to the destruction of Olympus politically."

"Oh," Julia squeaked. "So, um, how do we prevent Olympus from being destroyed politically?"

"Another confusing word," Lily muttered.

"We need to find Morpheus, the God of Dreams, ask him what's going on and try to wake the gods." Percy said. "The only problem is, we don't know where the dude is,"

Then, something made a _Ding _sound in Percy's head. Hermes's voice popped into his head, saying, "You've got one message,"

"Hermes?" Percy called. "Where are you?"

"I'm currently in an amusement park called 'Fantasy Land'," Hermes said. "Damn, it's crowded with mortals,"

"Please don't tell me that Morpheus is in there," Percy said.

"Nope, but I know someone who can help that's in here," Hermes said. "He runs the amusement park. I thought you might want to take a look at it,"

"Why don't you take a look at it?" Percy asked.

"I got mails to deliver. Bye now," Hermes said before he disconnected. Percy cursed in Ancient Greek.

"What's wrong?" Artemis asked. "Did you talk to Hermes?"

Percy nodded. "We're going to an amusement park, apparently."

"Please don't tell me Morpheus lives there," Artemis grumbled.

"Nope, but he knows someone who could help us that runs the place."

"Who is it?"

"No idea,"

**Line Break**

Fantasy Land was the kind of place that kids would fantasize about, which kind of made sense. The amusement park was basically littered with huge rides and games that it looked more like the game place at Lotus Casino, only these rides looked more dangerous. Percy doubted he could keep any of his meals in his stomach after riding any of them.

The place was surprisingly popular, because there were hundreds of mortals wandering around, playing games and getting on the rides. There were also screams, which ensured Percy that all of the rides are terrifying.

"Oh, Percy, can we go up on that one?" Julia begged, pointing an amusement ride that spins around that doesn't look safe at all.

"Maybe later, okay? We're here on a quest, remember?" Percy said with a smile. Julia seemed to understand, but she did look a bit disappointed. Percy felt bad instantly.

Artemis saw the expression on Percy's face and comforted them both. "How about this, if we manage to save the gods from their dreams, then as a reward, I promise I'll take the whole Hunt here, so we could have fun together, okay?"

Julia's and Lily's faces lit up instantly. "For real?"

Artemis nodded with a smile. "For real."

The girls cheered and gave each other high fives. Percy leaned close and whispered in her ears. "Thank you,"

Artemis shrugged. "You've just got to play your cards right,"

"Like I did with you?"

"Shut up,"

They walked around mortals and looked at the mortals that were screaming for joy, but none looked like the guy that Hermes mentioned. Percy looked around until his eyes were locked on to a small stall. The sign read 'Phantasy Realm', and a bored looking guy was manning the stall. The stall looked like a ticket counter rather than a game stall and no one even bothered to go near it.

"Maybe that one," Percy gestured.

"It looks boring," Lily said.

"Which is why it's probably that one," Percy said and walked towards the stall. When the guy saw us, he didn't even bothered to look and just laid its eyes into space.

"Welcome to Phantasy Realm," The guy said in a bored tone. "If you can guess what my riddle is, I will answer any question you ask. Before you ask, yes, this is the real deal."

"Ask away then," Artemis said.

"If a man has no money and the woman has no time, what does the child have?" He asked and yawned.

"Um, dreams?" Percy guessed.

For once, he looked genuinely surprised, but he went back to his usual bored demeanour. "Congratulations, you got it right. You may now ask a question,"

"Tell me where Morpheus is," Percy said. The man then frowned.

"I don't understand your question,"

"You said you will answer anything I ask, so answer me this," Percy eyes turned golden. "Where's Morpheus?"

The man looked at them, taking in reality of who they really were and the aura they were giving out. Artemis raised an eyebrow at him, as if daring him to resist them. "Oh, _oh . . ._" The man said in realization. "Forgive me, Lady Artemis, I didn't notice you,"

"Can you answer his question?" Artemis asked.

"Yes, but please, come with me. We should talk in private," The man said. He left his stall and led them to something that looked like a circus tent.

Artemis pulled Percy away before they entered the tent. "I don't trust him,"

"Me too," Percy agreed. "But for now, let's just play along,"

They followed the man and entered the tent. Inside was nothing but an empty circus arena with empty bleachers and a couple of haystacks bundled up to form some sort of wall.

The man stopped at the centre of the arena, finally sighing and faced towards them. "Sorry about that, but I had to take precautionary measures,'

"Why?" Artemis asked.

"They've been hunting me for days." The man said. "The Nightmares,"

Julia frowned. "You mean you had bad dreams?"

He shook his head. "Not that kind of dreams, little one. They're the result of good things turned bad, corrupted dreams. We call them Nightmares."

"Who's we?" Percy asked.

"The ones from the Demos Oneiroi including me," He straightened up and saluted Percy and Artemis. "Phantasos, the God of Fantasy Dreams,"

"No wonder you seem familiar," Artemis said.

"What's Demos Oreo?" Julia asked.

"It's Demos Oneiroi," Artemis corrected her. "It's known as the Land of Dreams, the original home for all the god of dreams and sleep,"

"Correct you are, Lady Artemis," Phantasos bowed.

"Back to the topic," Percy urged. "You said you were hiding. Who're you hiding from?"

"My brother, Phobetor," Phantasos said grimly. "He's been sending Nightmares at me for a long time now, preventing me from doing my duty to provide pleasant dreams for everyone."

"And your brother Phobetor is?" Percy asked.

"He's the God of Nightmares," Artemis explained. "He's basically the opposite of Phantasos,"

"Exactly," Phantasos agreed. "The creatures I've mentioned, Nightmares, used to be just a dream, a good one. When Phobetor turned it into a reality Nightmare, they become corrupted and become what they really are, Nightmares. So if you dreamt of a unicorn and Phobetor turned it, you'll find that same unicorn in real life, only more dark and violent."

Percy shook his head. All the talk about dreams will make him fall asleep. "That's enough. How do we get inside your father's realm?"

"That's easy," Phantasos said. "You just sleep,"

"No, we need to get in there while staying awake,"

Phantasos almost laughed. "You're joking, right? The Demos Oneiroi is a place where your subconscious goes when you're asleep. You can't go there if you're awake. They're called the Land of Dreams for a reason,"

"Isn't there any way to sleep while staying awake?" Lily asked.

"That doesn't even make sense," Phantasos said. "Honestly, I have no idea. As a god who lives there, I can go there whenever I want, but I go there just like everyone else. I sleep,"

Percy sighed. If Phantasos doesn't know how to get to the Demos Oneiroi while awake, then there's only one person who does. "Where's your father?"

"Where else?" Phantasos said, as if it was supposed to be obvious. "In the Demos Oneiroi, of course. The only way you get to him is if he lets your subconscious get to him. He controls the dreams. You won't even know what you're doing in there, but you'll have memories of it."

"Who knew dreams could be this confusing," Julia muttered. Lily elbowed her.

"Do you have any idea on how to get to the Demos Oneiroi without losing consciousness?" Percy asked.

"None that I'm aware of," Phantasos shrugged. Then, they heard a roar coming from above the tent. "That would be a Nightmare," The roof of the tent caved in and the figure of a wyvern could be seen. It looked like it was made out of black smoke and had red eyes flaring at them. The wyvern roared at them and breathed out flames. Julia rushed forward and took her sword out, splitting the flame in half and missing them completely. "That's a shame. It used to be a good dragon,"

"How do we kill it?" Percy asked, drawing his own sword.

"They go down just like any other monsters, but they're smarter than any other monsters, so good luck!" Phantasos said as he vanished into thin air.

"Coward," Artemis grumbled and took out her own bow.

"Aren't you breaking the Ancient Law by interfering with this?" Lily asked.

"The Fates wouldn't mind," Percy shrugged. "I mean, the council is asleep and this is necessary."

Again, the wyvern roared and lunged at them. Artemis and Percy rolled to one side while Julia and Lily rolled to the other. Julia put her palm on the ground and summoned the dead, horribly disfigured creatures came out of the ground like zombies and mummies. Julia muttered something in Latin before a dozen of them charged at the Nightmare.

"What the-"

"Julia has been honing her abilities," Artemis explained. "She's now a Necromancer in training,"

Percy shrugged and rushed forward towards the Nightmare. It squashed a zombie flat before ripping another one apart with its jaws. When it saw Percy, it blew out a torrent of flames. Percy dodged to the side, straight into the path of its tail. Percy flung back and landed roughly at stance of the circus arena, crashing into the seats.

"Percy!" Artemis shouted. Her anger took over and she fired volleys of arrows towards the Nightmare, but just like the real thing, the arrows bounced off harmlessly against its smoky hide. The zombies were doing a great job being a nuisance to the Nightmare, but it wasn't enough to do any harm.

Lily slid under the Nightmare's tail and tried to cut it, but her hunting knife bounced off harmlessly. The Nightmare chewed up a zombie in one gulp and swiped another with its claws, making the zombie fly and crashing onto Lily. Luckily, they landed in a haystack. Unluckily, Lily was unconscious. Artemis's rage fuelled up more and tried for melee combat. She rolled away from its claws and jumped above the Nightmare's swiping tail. She took her hunting knives out and climbed onto the back of the monster. The monster roared as it tried to shake Artemis off of its back, but Artemis wasn't going to let go.

She made it to the head and raised her weapon for the kill, but Artemis didn't see the incoming tail. She was knocked aside and fell back onto the ground roughly.

By the time Percy regained his bearings, the Nightmare was lunging towards Artemis. Percy's leg was stinging in pain. He saw a piece of wood had pierced through his skin, so he looked like he had a massive stick sticking out of his leg. Ichor started dripping onto the floor. Artemis jumped back just as the Nightmare buried its maw into the ground where Artemis had been standing.

"Milady!" Julia ran towards Artemis, her sword right by her side. The Nightmare raised its claw, going for the kill, but Julia jumped to a height impossible for a seven year old girl, and the head of the Nightmare surprisingly with ease. The Nightmare froze in the middle of its motion before the decapitated head fell onto the ground and exploded in black smoke, followed with the rest of the body until there was none left.

"How did you do that?" Artemis asked. "Is that some kind of Necromancy power?" She groaned as she stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes.

Julia shrugged. "I don't know. I just wanted to protect you,'

"Hey, little help?" Percy groaned. He was used to pain, but the sprouting piece of large wood in his leg was still stinging.

"You'll be fine," Artemis waved him off. She does worry about him, but she knew he could take care of himself. He's just begging for attention. "I'm going to take a look at Lily,"

"And you call yourself a caring girlfriend," Percy raised an eyebrow. He took the wood out of his leg with some serious pain and struggle. After it was out, Percy snapped his fingers and bandaged the wound. Being a god, his wound will heal at a faster rate than mortals, but it still needs time to heal. Maybe in an hour or two. He limped his way towards where Artemis and Julia was. "That was amazing, Julia," Percy said.

Julia just smiled. "Thanks,"

"We have some bad news," Artemis frowned at Lily, who looked to be in deep pain. "She's dreaming,"

Percy cursed in Ancient Greek. "Can you wake her up?"

Artemis shook her head. "I can't and I won't risk it. She's now trapped in the Demos Oneiroi."

"We need to save her," Julia urged.

"We will, Julia," Percy said with certainty. "We just need to find out how to go there without losing consciousness."

"Perhaps there's someone who could help you," A voice said behind them. They turned around to see Phantasos in the similar outfit he was in before.

"Thanks for the lovely gift," Percy grumbled. "Now give us something to find or I'll make sure your head will be a permanent display on your ticket counter."

Phantasos paled. "Okay, okay. The only way you could know how to go to the Demos Oneiroi is to ask someone who's been there for a very long time and knows how to do it,"

"Who's our guy?"

"He no longer exists now, because he's dead."

"Why are you telling us about a dead person?" Artemis asked.

"If you can find out a way to talk to the dead, then he might be able to help you," Phantasos said.

"Who?"

"Oh, you're not going to like this," Phantasos shook his head at Artemis. "It's Jack the Ripper,"

There was a brief moment of silence before Artemis almost exploded. "You expect_ me _to go and ask help from one of the vilest man to have ever exist?!" She yelled. "Jack the Ripper is a disgusting man who deserves to live in Tartarus for eternity!"

Julia tugged at Artemis's shirt. "Who's Jack the Ripper?"

"He's a serial killer who preys on women in a more . . . gruesome manner." Phantasos said. "Also, he's a cannibal."

Julia looked like he wanted to throw up. Artemis glared at Phantasos. "We are not going to talk to him," Then, she looked at Percy. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"I wish it was any other person other than the one you mentioned," Percy muttered in defeat. "We'll talk to Jack,"

"Good," Phantasos said. "I've helped you all I can. Until we meet again. Sweet dreams!" Phantasos disappeared in a cloud of glittering white smoke.

"Are you out of your mind?" Artemis glared at Percy. "We can't meet that guy! We can't just go to the Underworld and look for a guy called Jack the Ripper,"

"We don't have to," Percy sighed. He wore a look that Artemis had never seen before. Regret, maybe? He looked like he was dwelling from an old memory and it was killing him every second. "Jack's alive,"

Artemis furrowed her eyebrows. "That's impossible. He lived in England like, a hundred years ago."

"No one ever found her, did they? I know where she is,"

Artemis wasn't sure if she wanted to know how or why Percy knew where Jack the Ripper is. But then, Julia asked something that Artemis overlooked. "Isn't Jack a guy's name? Why did you call him a 'she'?"

Artemis looked at Percy with a questioned look. "I'll explain on the way," Percy sighed.

**Line Break**

Apparently, Percy thought hiding Jack the Ripper under Olympus was a good idea.

They were on their way down to the basement of the Empire State Building before Percy started talking.

"I've known Jack before she became Jack the Ripper," Percy explained with a dark look on his face. "I was avoiding Olympus like usual until I found her. I don't know how you guys could've missed her, or maybe you just didn't care that mortals were being slaughtered."

Artemis felt guilty. In truth, they didn't really care about what mortals do back then. They only cared if they worshipped them or not. Plus, they were entirely focused onto Greece at the time.

"I chased Jack and actually did catch her, but I didn't turn her in. I kept her locked out of the world." Percy said.

"Why didn't you?" Artemis asked her voice was surprisingly soft.

Percy smiled at her. "Prison at that time was easy to escape. I know Jack would escape if I let her stay there, so it's better for me to keep an eye on her."

"How is she alive though?" Artemis asked. "Did you grant her immortality?"

Percy snorted. "She'd wish. Honestly, I don't know. She sleeps like every day and has only woken up a few times these past decades I've kept her locked. I guess that must've slowed the ageing process, kinda like hibernation. The only problem is, I don't know how she kept sleeping that long without some kind of potion or spell."

"Maybe she's dreaming like the ticket guy said. If I had a good dream, I could sleep all the time too," Julia offered. Percy smiled and ruffled her hair.

"We'll find out soon enough," Percy said before the seriousness returned to his face. Artemis saw a bit of tension in his eyes. Like Artemis said, the only thing she found disturbing about him is that he's very secretive. There're probably more about him that she doesn't know about.

"Do you have some kind of bad history with her?" Artemis asked carefully.

Percy's face tightened for a second, but then he softened up. "The sooner we get to her, the better," Percy said, obviously avoiding the question but Artemis wasn't going to press it.

They descended through a flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever. "How deep did you lock her in?"

"So deep that she may never see sunlight again," Percy muttered.

After what seemed like hours, they made it to a set of double bronze doors. Four chains were latched onto the walls and formed an X over the door and locking them in the centre was a golden lock with something that doesn't look like a keyhole, but acts like one. Percy took his sword out and thrusts his sword inside the keyhole and twisted it. A satisfying _click _could be heard before the lock disappeared into the air in sand and the chains fell. The doors opened by themselves, revealing a dark room with only one source of light hanging from the ceiling.

At the far end of the wall, bound with shackles attached loosely to the brick walls and floors, was the figure of a female. Her crimson red hair flowed down to the side elegantly, maintaining its beauty after being locked for over a hundred years. Her figure was surprisingly good and athletic and she didn't seem like someone who spent the last hundred years being locked up. She was more like someone who'd been living a healthy lifestyle.

The woman giggled and looked up to Percy. Her red eyes seemed to flare as she looked at him. "Perseus," She muttered. "After all these years, you've finally brought someone for me to play with. That's nice of you. It gets lonely here sometime." She stood up in her tattered hunting dress which was soaked with dried blood. She walked towards Percy. The chains that first bounded her fell from the wall while the ones on the floor seemed to have broke a long time ago. She made her way towards the group while dragging the chains across the floor, making metallic noises scraping against the rocks.

"Percy, should we be worried?" Artemis readied her bow.

"Percy? That's a nice nickname," Jack laughed. "Since when did you get all friendly on anyone, Perseus?"

"I wouldn't have come here if I had another way," Percy growled. "Keep your distance and I'll spare your head,"

"Aw, you used to be fun to play with," Jack whined but smiled sadistically. "Remember how you chased me all over England just because I killed some whores?"

"They were innocent!" Percy almost shouted. His voice echoed loudly in the room.

"You call that innocent?" Jack grinned as she licked something from her hand that no one had the intention to find out what. "Selling their bodies for pleasure to men? They disgust me more than their insides. Some of them tastes good, I might add,"

"You sick bastard," Artemis growled. In some ways, Artemis could relate to her. She's also disgusted on prostitutes or women seeking pleasure from men just for their lust, but that doesn't mean Artemis would kill them for it. Artemis lunged at her, but Jack stepped aside.

"Stop it!" Percy said. Artemis was glaring at Jack, who just smiled like her anger amused her.

"Keep your girlfriend on leash, Percy," Jack said. "Or I might have to kill her,"

"I'm an Olympian goddess," Artemis growled. "You can't kill me,"

"Oh, I know all about you Greek gods and goddesses," Jack winked at Percy. "Percy's one of them too, isn't he? Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I doubt having your flesh eaten out feels good when you're still alive,"

"Mary!" Percy shouted. At the name, Jack tensed. Her eyes changed from amusement to total hatred. She trembled with rage as she glared at Percy.

"Don't call me that!" Jack, or Mary, lunged towards Percy at a speed that surprised Artemis. Percy barely had enough time to dodge to the side and took his sword out and levelling it at Mary's throat. Mary made something that sounded like a growl mixed with a snarl. "How dare you use that name here!"

"Good gods, what happened to you," Percy said sadly.

"You happened!" Mary cried out. Before, she was all giggling and sadistic but now, she looked like someone who'd just lost her precious baby. "You corrupted me!"

"I had nothing to do with the death of your-"

"Shut up!" Mary screamed. She pushed the blade aside and lunged at Percy, tackling him to the ground. Artemis froze for one horrible moment, thinking that Mary might kill her immortal boyfriend even if it was impossible, but she just hit him. "I hate you! I hate you!" Mary sobbed and cried as she hit him in the chest repeatedly. Artemis would've helped Percy, but Percy gave her a look that said _I got this_. Eventually, Mary's hits got weaker and slower and soon, she was just crying and sobbing on his shoulders. Percy hugged her and brushed her hair a few times.

Looking into the situation, Artemis found it hard to be mad or jealous at Percy. She's not watching a woman beating the crap out of her boyfriend. She's watching her boyfriend comforting a broken woman.

"It's okay, Mary," Percy said. "It's okay to cry,"

"I hate you so much," Mary sobbed onto Percy's chest.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Percy said. "I'm gonna let you see the outside world, only if you promise to behave."

**Line Break**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Artemis asked. "Letting one of the most notorious serial killers loose without any bindings?"

"I heard that," Mary said from the front. From behind, she looked like a gorgeous model with her red hair flaring. "Where are we going, Percy?"

"Just to the left," Percy said with a tired tone. Artemis felt bad for him, but her curiosity was killing her badly. How did he know her? What's his history with her? Were they friends once?

They arrived at an old bungalow, which looked abandoned longer than it stood, if that made sense. The grass lawn was overgrown and was up to their knees, while the door looked like someone had barged inside. The windows were shattered along with their frames and what seemed like blue walls had been spray painted with rude graffiti.

"Robbers," Percy sighed. He twirled his finger around and the house seemed to be rebuilding itself. The grass shrunk back to their normal sides while the door and windows fixed themselves. In just a minute, it looked like a regular house again. "Let's go inside." They followed Percy as they stepped in the house. It looked like what Artemis imagined what a regular home for a mortal would be, complete with a kitchen, a living room and some other rooms that Artemis doesn't know what it does. "You can wash up in the bathroom. Don't fall asleep. Meeting in the living room in an hour."

They nodded and went on to do their own things. While Julia was busy digging the fridge and Mary was busy cleaning up, Artemis finally gets a chance to talk with Percy alone. He sat on the front porch, staring at the sky as if thinking of something he could never have. Artemis sat on the porch with him. On any mortal's point of view, they almost looked like a regular pair of husband and wife. That thought alone brought blush to her face.

"I'm guessing you want explanations, right?" Percy sighed.

Artemis did want explanation. Mainly about his past, but that would've make her sound like a busy body. Artemis respected anyone else's privacy as long as they respected hers. While Percy didn't force Artemis to tell him everything about her, she kinda told him herself. Percy, on the other hand, was very secretive. For all she knew, Percy could've been Attila the Hun in disguise.

"Only if you want to explain," Artemis decided to go for the safe answer.

Percy sighed. "I met Mary when she was a baby. You could say she started her life with nothing. No parents, no house, no one. She was all alone in the streets, trying to live as best as she could. I found her crying in the streets of England, where everybody basically ignored her. So I took her in and took care of her."

"Sounds like you were quite the babysitter back then,"

"Guardian," Percy corrected. "But yeah, I took care of her. We developed a father-daughter bond. I loved her like a daughter and she loved me like a father. That was until she . . . changed."

Artemis was too afraid to ask, but she did anyway. "How?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Percy said in defeat. "She developed some interests in the human body and anatomy. At first I thought she was just being curious and wanted to be a doctor or something like that. When she got older, it got worse. Her curiosity grew unbearable. She started to ask me whether if it's okay to kill someone."

"Did you stop her?"

"I tried," Percy looked at the skies. "I was always nice to her and loved her like a father would, but when she developed a thirst for blood, I knew I couldn't treat her the same. I stopped her from going out, threw out anything she might use to hurt someone and everything, but it wasn't enough. In the end, she took her first victim."

Artemis was quiet, not sure of what to respond to his story. "I tried to be a father and stop her, but she didn't believe me. So was born, Jack the Ripper. She thought if she used a male nickname, no one would suspect her. She developed a thirst for blood and flesh, so she decided to kill unsuspecting prostitutes. To her, they were beings that don't belong in this world. Nothing but a mass of human flesh that was born to do nothing but die."

"That's a harsh way of putting it," Artemis said nervously.

"At least that's how she sees them. I managed to catch her and lock her away, but I doubt she'll behave. I'm going to lock her away again after this."

"Back then, you said that you weren't responsible for someone's death. Was it someone important to her?"

"It was me," Percy said. "To her, I died."

"Excuse me?"

"In her eyes, when I started to change the way I treated her, the fatherly figure she once loved was no longer there. It was replaced by a man trying to lock her away from what she wanted to do."

"Are you?" Artemis asked.

Percy frowned. "Am I what?"

"Are you trying to keep her away?"

"I'm just doing it for the safety of other people and herself." Percy admitted. "I didn't want to do it, but she left me no choice,"

"Just like how you left me with no choice," Mary hissed behind them. Percy turned around just in time to catch her wrist mid swing. In her hand was a large kitchen knife. "Let me go!"

"Stop doing this, Mary!"

"Don't call me that!" Mary kicked Percy away. Artemis reacted and tried to kick her on the head, but she ducked under Artemis's foot. Artemis grabbed her wrist, twisted it and yanked it down, disarming her, but she countered with a punch to Artemis's face with her other hand. She pushed Artemis aside and glared at Percy. "Only one person can call me Mary and he's long gone,"

"Mary, I'm still here," Percy pleaded. "Just please, stop!"

"I'm going to kill all of you," She snarled.

"_Tas!_" Percy shouted as he waved something that looked like a stick. Pink ribbon started to swirl out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Mary, binding her from neck to toe like a pink wedding gift. As soon as he used whatever that was, Percy's head was shot with intense pain, as if someone stuck hot metal iron across his brain. "Oh shit, that hurt,"

"Percy!" Artemis hurried up and grabbed him before he could collapse. "What the heck did you do?"

"Remind me not to use foreign powers again," Percy grunted. "Let's get inside before any Egyptian god wants my ass for using their power, shall we?"

**A/N: Wee, updated. Fuck yeah. I really have nothing to say about this, so, yeeeaaahhh.. Hope you guys enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for being so late, but hey, things happen. Besides, the laptop was in repairs for a week or two, so I guess that would make a good excuse. I couldn't really type with my phone now can I?**

**Also, many of you are making a big deal out of the fact that I used an Egyptian power on Percy. Believe me, this won't be a regular thing. There would be some events that would require him to use them, but not often. With that being said, let's continue with the story, shall we?**

**But first, I'll answer some questions.**

**Guest: That Jason DeRulo song didn't fit in with the current situation, but it was funny as hell. *claps. I don't consider this the best story ever though, but thanks anyway. (was it Jason Derulo though? I have no idea.)  
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**Guest (different one): Oh, that part will happen. And it will be good.**

**xRinneandSharinx: Don't trust the fact that Jack the Ripper is a woman in this fanfic. I made that up. I don't want to be responsible if you failed your English test on 'Ruthless Murderers Ever Existed'.**

**gamesharker: It feels strangely good knowing that when I'm not updating, I'm causing pain. Just kidding. Anyway, thanks for that.**

**Ginocide02: He made two good books about both mythologies. I think he mentioned that he might do a full crossover book in his FAQ section. I don't know if its true or not but if it is, I'm going to read it.**

**IchiIchi: Murdering people without a clear motive and eat their insides is considered innocent? Well, I'm not one for being a cannibal, but there're some people I would like to gut.**

**Chapter 3**

They decided to let Mary sit on the couch while being tied from neck to toe, kind of like a mummy with its head revealed but instead of linen, she was tied with pink ribbon. It didn't help in making her less dangerous though.

Artemis was still curious at what Percy just did. She remembered clearly that Percy yelled something and she knew she heard the word clearly, but whenever she tried to focus on that memory, it would be a little disoriented. Like a damaged section of a video film. Even though she was curious, she decided to dwell on it later. Right now, there're bigger things to deal with. Like the Olympians being tortured in their dreams, for example.

"You gods are funny," Mary smirked. "You can't even rely on your own powers to help you. You have to resort to foreign powers,"

"Stop it," Percy said with a stern look.

Mary laughed. "Well, you got my hands tied, there's nothing really I can do about it, can I?"

"I'll cut to the chase," Artemis said, her patience growing thin. "We need help getting into the Demos Oneiroi. Either you be a useful little bitch, or I'll just cut you into pieces."

"Look, lady, I might know about you Greek gods and everything, but I don't speak Greek. I don't know what the fuck is your Demonstration Oreo or whatever you call it. Besides, you're asking for help from the one you call bitch. I recommend you watch your tongue, _bitch_." Mary said with a satisfying smirk.

Artemis would've lunged at her, and she would've killed her if it wasn't for Percy's reflexes which were faster. "Artemis!" Percy said. "Let me handle this,"

Artemis looked like she wanted to protest, but because it was Percy, she decided to contain her anger and let Percy handle the situation. She reluctantly backed off while glaring at the infamous murderer.

"Jack," Percy said calmly and yet with a steely tone, like Chiron does whenever he was serious or in a bad mood. "We need your help in dreaming while conscious."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I have two questions for both of you immortals," She kept her eyes focused on Percy. "First, why do you need this information? Secondly, what makes you think I have that kind of information, or the capability to do so for that matter."

"I'll answer your second question first," Percy said. "You were born in the 1800s, that's roughly two hundred years ago. And after all the time I spent taking care of you when I locked you away, you were always asleep. You never woke up, which makes sense. Sleeping can slow the ageing process and extend your life, but it's hard to stay asleep for that long unless you're under a spell or you drank a very strong sleeping drug. That only leads to one conclusion; you've spent your life in the Land of Dreams, where you can stay there while conscious while our body sleeps,"

Mary laughed hysterically. "Well guessed, Perseus," Mary said with a somewhat evil grin. "Yes, I indeed have the capability to go to the Land of Dreams while my subconscious, well, stayed conscious. It's not that hard to do. I'm surprised you gods haven't figured it out yet." Then she switched her view from Percy to Artemis and then back to Percy. "Or maybe some of you are just dumb enough to not know that this was possible?"

Artemis's hand trembled with rage. Percy knew how angry she was, so he laced his fingers around her, giving a comforting squeeze. While that made her relax a bit, that still didn't lower the rage she had for her one bit.

"That's enough," Percy said. "How do we do it? If it's as easy as you said, then it shouldn't be that hard to teach us, right?"

Mary looked both Olympians warily. "On one condition," Mary said. "By the time we're done, you're going to give me a head start,"

Artemis frowned. "A head start for what?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Mary grinned. "By the time you're done with everything, I'm going to escape from you and you're going to let me, at least for a few days before you go and search for me,"

"Who do you think you-" Artemis started to argue but Percy stopped her.

"We accept your terms," Percy said. With their lifeline linked, Artemis felt something inside Percy. Something that Artemis hadn't felt in Percy for a very long time.

Desperation.

Percy was desperate. She knew that if there was another way, Percy would've used it. But he wanted to save his fellow Olympian siblings, and he was desperate to do so. If this was the only way he had, then he had no other choice. While Artemis didn't like it, she decided to go on with it, for the sake of Percy and the other Olympians.

"Very well," Mary said. "Now release me from this pink string so I could walk you through the steps."

**Line Break**

"So, what exactly are we doing?" Percy asked.

"It's called Lucid Dreaming," Mary said. "It's been around for a few hundred years, even before I was born. Some Italian dude tried it and it actually worked. He tried telling the world about it, but no one believed him."

"Maybe it's Morpheus," Artemis said. "He didn't like anyone going into his realm without permission, so he made sure no one believed him."

"Beats me," Mary said.

By the time Mary had everyone ready, they were all lying down with Mary standing over them. Artemis felt uncomfortable being in this position with a murderer, but if she tried anything, Artemis would be ready. Percy lied down on the floor while Julia and Artemis lied on the couch.

"First, close your eyes," Mary said. "Let yourself be drifted into a dream, but don't let yourself go to sleep. It's not going to be easy on your first try, but if you'll know if you succeed. Let's just hope one of you does, because I'm not saving you in the Land of Dreams."

"What do you mean by that?" Julia asked.

"Well little girl, if you fall asleep, someone has to get you from your little dream now, right? If all of you fall asleep, don't look at me for any help."

"Don't worry, Julia," Percy glared at Mary for scaring her. "I'll save you if you fall asleep. I promise,"

Julia nodded, but she didn't seem very convinced. "Okay now," Mary clapped her hands, eager for this to start. "Close your eyes and imagine a scene, possible somewhere close to whoever you're saving, and imagine yourself in there. Let yourself be indulge into the scene until you've convinced your body that you're asleep, but your mind is still awake."

"Let's imagine the same place, okay?" Percy said. "Imagine the throne room in Olympus, that'll be a good place to start." Julia and Artemis nodded as they closed their eyes. Percy imagined himself walking around the hearth of Mount Olympus, just enjoying the heat and comfort it gave out like his sister, Hestia. He thought about how he finally had a family here in Olympus, and how much he'd missed his siblings. His thoughts drifted towards the memories of his mother, the good and bad times they had together that he felt himself tearing up.

"Percy?" Someone called behind him. Percy turned around to see Artemis standing there in confusion. "Did we made it?"

"I guess so," Percy said. "Where's Julia?"

"She's not here yet?"

Percy cursed. "She must've slept. We've got to find her and the other Olympians and possibly, whoever trapped them here."

Then, they heard something loud outside, the sound of building getting crushed. Percy and Artemis ran outside to find a somewhat shadowy mass of cloud that seemed to destroy anything it passes. The cloud has seemed to destroy half of Olympus and was working on the other half.

"Please!" Someone shouted. It was Hestia, from the foot of the stairs to the throne room. "Stop it!"

"Hestia!" Percy ran towards his sister. Hestia turned around and it brought her happiness to see another familiar face after being stuck in this nightmare for quite some time. She immediately tackled her little brother with a godly hug.

"Percy!" Hestia cried out. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"Don't worry sister, I'm here," Percy said, rubbing her back and comforting her. Hestia stood up and gave Artemis a friendly hug, which she returned with no problem.

"What's going on?" Hestia asked. "There's no one here and this is the third time this thing had happened," Hestia gestured at the cloud. "It kills me every time,"

"What's happening?"

"My worst nightmare," Hestia said sadly. "My home getting destroyed."

"The gods are in their nightmares, Percy," Artemis explained. "Being trapped in one and being mentally or physically tortured in it couldn't be good,"

"What are you talking about?" Hestia asked.

"We'll explain later, sister," Percy said and kissed Hestia's forehead. "We need to find a way to defeat that thing."

"I've tried," Hestia said. "For some reason, my powers won't work here."

"Of course it wouldn't," A voice said behind them. They turned around to see Mary standing there looking rather different in real life. Her luscious red hair was let loose and flowed to her back. She wore a red coloured old English jacket, with red jeans and combat boots. On her back, was a scythe, with the metal shaft almost as long as her body and the blade was wickedly sharp with red metal highlighted with white. "How do I look?" Mary asked as she posed a bit.

Seriously, there was no other colour on this woman except for red.

"How are you here?" Artemis growled. "How did you know what Olympus looked like?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "It wasn't hard to track you down once you're here. And it seems like you don't know the limits in this world."

"We know our powers won't work here," Percy said.

"Not entirely true," Mary grinned. She stepped forward, taking her scythe out.

"Brother, who is that?" Hestia asked.

"Like I said, we'll explain later. It's a long story," Percy said. He turned his attention towards Mary. "How do we kill the Nightmare?"

"Is that what you guys call it?" Mary asked. "Not a very fancy name. Well, I'll handle this one just this once," Mary closed her eyes for just a moment before red wings sprouted from her back.

"She has wings?" Artemis asked.

"I guess so," Percy said, just as surprised as she was. Mary flew towards the black cloud and disappeared into it. The cloud stopped its mad rampage across Olympus for a brief moment. Then, at the centre of the cloud shine brightly. Everyone was force to avert their eyes for a moment before the light died down. The scenery changed. They were standing in a clear and beautiful meadow covered with green grass as far as the eye could see. The sky was blue and dotted with clouds. The place was so peaceful that Percy doubted he was in reality.

"Easy pick," Mary said as she walked towards the trio of confused immortals.

"Let's just sit down for a moment and talk before we venture any further," Percy said. "I'm in a dream for fuck's sake and I'm having a headache,"

**Line Break**

After they'd explained everything to Hestia, she looked very worried and sad. "The others . . ." She muttered. "We must save the others,'

"We will, sister," Percy assured her.

"Jack," Artemis said. "Explain more about this land,"

"This is the Dream Meadow." Mary started. "There're no good dreams or bad dreams here. You can say this is the only neutral place you can go in your dream, where nothing good or bad will happen to you. Everyone who enters and exits the Land of Dreams will pass this place."

"Looks peaceful," Percy said.

"Because sleep requires peace," Mary said. "Anyway, none of your powers works here. You're also limited to a mortal's physical ability.

"What about you?" Artemis asked.

"Impatient little brat, aren't you?" Mary smirked. Artemis did well to contain her anger, but she was still angry. "In this world, when you fight, you can do every thing imaginable, be it possible or impossible. While dreaming, you can do what you want the way you imagine it. Lucid Dreaming gives you the advantage to control your dream, so you have to control your movement. That's why I look different and had wings. Concentrate on the things you want and you'll be okay."

"Not sure if I get that," Percy said.

"I'll demonstrate," Mary stood in front of Percy. "Tell me one thing you can't do,"

"I'm a god," Percy said. "I can do anything,"

Mary rolled her eyes. "Well in here, you're no more than a mortal. You don't age, but you might as well be mortal without your combat abilities and powers,"

"Well, I guess I can't fly," Percy said.

"Focus your mind on flying. Will your body to fly into the air, even though you can't."

Percy did what she asked. He felt himself going weightless as his feet went off the ground. He kept floating and floating until he was ten feet off the ground. "This is amazingly awesome,"

"Don't lose focus, or you'll be going down,"

"What?" Percy asked. On cue, the weight came to him and he plunged face first to the ground and landed with an unpleasant _thud_. "Oh," He muttered with a muffled voice, which caused Artemis and Hestia to laugh. It felt good to laugh after all they've been through.

"This is not an easy thing to do," Mary said. "Lose focus in battle, and you'll end up in a dream state,"

"Aren't we in a dream state right now?" Artemis asked.

"You're in a dream while holding onto your consciousness," Mary said. "If you somehow got killed in here, you'll lose grip of that consciousness and you'll end up trapped like your fellow gods and goddesses,"

"How do we find them?" Percy asked, getting back to the task at hand. "How do we find the gods and goddesses?"

Mary smirked. "If only I know how to do that." Mary said. "I'm afraid that's out of my abilities in this world."

"You said it wasn't that hard to find us on Olympus," Artemis pointed out.

"I kinda popped out at Manhattan in this dream. When I heard the commotion up above, I knew it has to be you guys," Mary said. "You probably could find them in their own nightmares."

"Is that possible?" Hestia asked.

"It's a theory," Mary shrugged.

"At least it's better than nothing," Percy said. "Let's rest up here for the . . . night?"

Mary shook her head. "There's no day or night here. Sleep if you want. You want have dreams in a dream. That would be weird. But at least you'll be at rest." She walked over a few feet to her side and closed her eyes, imagining something. Instantly, a tent appeared, already installed and standing. "I'll be inside if you need me," She simply said and walked in.

"Charming fellow," Artemis grumbled. "I'm going to go and do my own tent,"

"Be careful," Percy smirked. He sat on the grassy fields and looked up on the sky and joined by Hestia, who seemed to be very fond of him as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I was worried," Hestia muttered silently.

"About what?"

"You," Hestia said. "I was wondering if you were sharing the same fate I did. Being trapped in an endless nightmare."

"You're the Queen of Olympus, sister," Percy said with a chuckle. "Don't spoil me too much,"

Hestia smiled. "I might be the Queen of Olympus, but I'm still your big sister,"

Percy held his hands up in surrender with a laugh escaping his lips. Hestia no longer radiated that aura of warmth and comfort around her, since none of their powers would work here, but that didn't Percy wasn't at ease being in her presence.

"What are we going to do now?" Hestia asked.

Percy sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I plan on saving everyone, but I didn't know how to." Percy sounded so devastated, perhaps because of the fact that his family is in trouble.

"I know you'll succeed," Hestia said, assuring her brother. "Because you are the seventh son of Kronos and Rhea. You'll manage something,"

"Let's see how long that'll take," Percy smiled. "Come on, let's check on Artemis before she injures herself."

**Line Break**

Artemis had managed to conjure up a . . . tent?

"You know, even if this is the Land of Dreams, you don't need to build a mansion," Percy muttered, staring at the two storey mansion standing in front of him.

"If we're going to rest, it's gotta be somewhere safe and comfortable," Artemis protested.

"As if your bed wasn't comfortable." Percy rolled his eyes. "Artemis, it's going to alert everything that we're here. It think we should just go for a normal staying place."

"I thought a mansion was normal for mortals."

"It is, but only for _rich _mortals." Percy explained. "Let's just sleep in a tent, okay?"

"Fine," Artemis grumbled. Her mansion then shimmered away, replaced by a big tent like hers when she was at the Hunt. Percy nodded approvingly before stepping in, but then he stopped midway.

"Will you be okay on your own, sister?" Percy asked.

"I can manage," Hestia said with a smile. "I'll call you if there's anything wrong,"

"According to Mary, nothing bad will happen to you here. I guess we're safe, but it couldn't hurt to be careful." Artemis said. She summoned two silver wolves and told them to patrol the area.

Percy stepped inside and it looked identical to Artemis's tent in the Hunt. He was about to make his way to the table and place his weapons when Artemis yanked him from behind and kissed him with more needy than passion. Percy was surprised, but he returned Artemis's heated kiss, pulling her closer to him. Both pulled away when they were out of breath. Percy found her slyly grinning at him as she pecked him lightly on the lips.

"What's gotten into you?" Percy asked with a smirk.

"Nothing," Artemis said. "I just missed you," She sat on the bed, waiting for Percy to join her.

Well, this is going well.

**Line Break**

"First things first," Percy said. "How do we find the others?"

"You can search for them," Mary said. "But it won't be easy,"

"Nothing about this is easy, Mary," Artemis rolled her eyes. As soon as Artemis said her name, Mary's head snapped towards her, her eyes flaring murderously.

"Call me that again, and I'll give you a reason to beg for mercy," Mary hissed. Artemis wasn't scared, but she was surprised at how Mary talked.

"Knock it off," Percy said. "We need to find the others. But first, we need-" In Percy's head, a voice was calling him. But instead of Percy, it called him something else.

_Dad!_

"Sophia . . ." Percy muttered. In a dreadful moment of realization, Percy realized that she must be in trouble. "Sophia?" Percy looked around frantically, looking for his daughter.

"Percy?" Hestia frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"Sophia," Percy said. "She's in trouble,"

"Who's Sophia?" Hestia asked.

"I believe its the demigod we met a few days ago, wasn't it?" Artemis asked. "How did you know she's in trouble?"

"There's no time," Percy said. "I'll explain later." Percy closed in eyes in concentration and wished for them to be where Sophia was. He knew Sophia was in the Demos Oneiroi, and he knew she was in trouble.

Later, the scenery changed into Camp Half-Blood, but it looked deserted.

Well, except for the big Nightmare the size of the Big House lumbering towards his helpless daughter, who was on her butt and backing away in panic.

Rage filled up Percy's heart. He took his sword out and ran at the Nightmare at full speed, not realizing the pace that he possessed. He finished of the Nightmare with one quick slice of the sword, cutting the Nightmare in half before it melted into nothing more than a puddle of black liquid before it disappeared into nothing.

"Sophie," Percy ran to Sophia's side and hugged her. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here now. Everything's okay. You're safe now." Percy comforted her.

"Wow," Mary said, genuinely surprised. "I've never seen someone take out a giant like that so quickly. Your boyfriend is something else," Mary glanced at Artemis before jogging off towards where Percy was comforting Sophia. Although Artemis was blushing at Mary's comment, she couldn't help but wonder about Percy. Like she thought, he's very secretive. How did he move with such speed? And why does he care so much for the seven year old demigod?

"I believe Perseus has his reasons on being secretive," Hestia put her hand on Artemis's shoulder and smiled at her. "We just have to trust him until he does tell us."

Artemis sighed but nodded. "I guess so. But the curiosity is going to kill me,"

Sophia was crying into Percy's shoulder while Percy tried to comfort her. "It's okay, Sophie. You're here now, okay? You're safe." Artemis watched with intent on how gentle Percy could be. Considering how easy he had killed the Nightmare before, that might've been hard to believe.

"Where are we?" Sophia asked.

"We're in a dream," Percy explained.

"The thing . . . It came for me. Then I called you, and you showed up,"

"Of course I would," Percy said, careful with his words because of Artemis's presence. He didn't want her to know that she's his daughter. At least not for the time being.

Hestia cleared her throat and smiled. "Who is the young demigod?"

By the time, Sophia had stopped crying and tried to look tough but in the presence of three immortals, a very old serial killer in a weird place, it seemed like a very hard thing to do. But she mustered up the courage she had.

"Um, Sophia." Sophia said.

"You look beautiful," Hestia said. She crouched down to Sophia's height. She studied Sophia's face carefully before glancing at Percy. "She looks a lot like you, Percy,"

"So I've been told," Percy said as he gave a nervous smile.

"Who's your parent?" Hestia asked.

"Um, I'm still unclaimed." Sophia lied. She wasn't too sure about lying to anyone, especially the Queen of Olympus, but her father said that it was important that no one knew of her parentage.

"I see," Hestia said as she stood up. Percy caught a glimpse of Hestia's eyes and Percy knew Hestia knew that she was lying. He's going to have a talk with her sooner or later.

"Anyway," Percy said eager to change the subject. "How did you get here Sophia?"

"I fell asleep, but I was also hoping for a good dream, unlike the other demigods."

"Other demigods?" Artemis asked.

"They had bad dreams all the time recently. I just wanted to have a good dream,"

"She must've been Lucid Dreaming by accident," Mary explained. "Maybe she has a natural talent for it."

"What is Lucid Dreaming?" Sophia asked. After explaining to her what it was, she looked excited. "That means, I can fly?"

Percy chuckled at her and ruffled her hair affectionately, which made Artemis question their relationship even more. Obviously, they had a closer bond than they had let on.

Suddenly, a girl was screaming from inside the Big House.

"I thought this place was deserted?" Mary said.

"Apparently not," Percy rushed towards the Big House, followed by everyone else. Inside, a blonde girl was standing near the lit up fireplace, being cornered what looked like teeny tiny spiders. Thousands of them were making their way towards the girl.

"It's Annabeth!" Sophia cried out. Annabeth cried out in terror as she tried to back away, but was running out of space. They wanted to save her, but somehow they knew that these spiders weren't regular spiders. They couldn't risk on just stepping on them and hoped that nothing happened. Besides, there're practically thousands of them crawling all over the floor.

"She's a child of Athena," Artemis said. "It would make sense that she'd-"

Mary didn't waste much time on listening to her and conjured up an oversized flamethrower with the fuel slung over her back and the flame thrower in her hands. She pressed the trigger and basically lit up the whole building on fire, but effectively killing the spiders as well. Annabeth ran as fast as she could towards the entrance where she hugged Sophia in fear.

"She's scared to death and you were busy talking to each other," Mary smirked. "And you call me a ruthless murderer."

For once, everyone was stunned speechless except for Annabeth. "Thank you miss!" Annabeth hugged her. "You saved me from those things."

"Don't mention it kid," Mary said with surprising gentleness in her voice, unlike the voice she used when she's talking to Artemis. Then, she turned towards the gods. "Now let's plan something before we go on with out journey, shall we?"

**A/N: There you have it. The line up party for the rest of the story. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Because of the lack of reviews, there won't be questions to my answers. Wait . . .**

**P/S: Spoiler Alert: Egyptian power involvement incoming.**

**Anyway, let's just begin.**

**Chapter 4**

They started the journey by having a picnic.

Literally.

They were in the Dream Meadow, surrounded by green hills and white clouds while sitting on a picnic blanket. Plates of simple food like sandwiches littered across the blanket as they sat around. If this wasn't a dream, it would've been one heck of a day.

But no one was in a good mood to be enjoying their meal. They did eat, just not as contently as they should in a picnic. Artemis was changing her vision between Percy and Sophia. They looked remarkably similar. If Artemis hadn't known any better, she'd thought that they were related.

Mary, on the other hand, stared at her knife. How did she get it, no one knows. Her mind seemed to be in a distant past rather than thinking about now. Percy was worried about her, but he was also worried about Sophia, who was in the Demos Oneiroi. Although Percy would've preferred that his daughter stayed out of the Land of Dreams, he was glad that he could keep an eye on her.

The only problem was Artemis.

Percy never did underestimate her ability to sniff out if something was wrong, but he was worried that she might find out the truth about Sophia. That's one of the things that didn't need to happen right now.

Although, Percy knew that Hestia suspected something. But whenever she caught Percy looking at her, she would just smile innocently. Hestia did have a knack of knowing things.

"Okay," Mary broke the silence. "This is getting boring. Do we have a plan?"

"The plan is to save the gods," Artemis glared at Mary. "Or at least find the person who did this,"

"Well, we're not making much progress are we?" Mary glared at the moon goddess back.

"We would if we have a clue of some sort," Artemis said. "And you're not helping,"

Sophia and Annabeth just sat silently, watching their argument as they nibbled on their sandwich.

"No one is helping around here," Mary rolled her eyes. "And for your information, _Artemis_, I do have a plan."

"Let me hear it then," Artemis growled. Percy put a hand on her shoulders, implying her to calm down. Artemis didn't know why Mary always gets in her nerves. Maybe it's the fact that she used to be a serial killer before. Or maybe it's because she felt unsafe when Mary was around Percy. She didn't know, but she didn't like Mary.

"It's going to be hard to explain so listen up," Mary said.

Apparently, the Demos Oneiroi works differently than most people think. The Demos Oneiroi is like an entire universe created for dreams to manifest. Dreams appear in the Demos Oneiroi as spaces or planets. One planet symbolizes a dream, which means the Demos Oneiroi is huge as fuck. To travel from one person's dream to another is like travelling through space. It's dangerous and if you get it wrong, you'll end up in limbo which is a dreamless state and never wake up.

"So, that's your plan?" Percy asked. "We travel across the dream space, in which we have a high risk of being in what basically is a coma?"

"Like I said, it's dangerous," Mary said. "But it is an idea."

"I don't like it," Percy said. "But let's keep that idea as a last resort until we figure out another plan," Then, Percy felt Sophia tugging at his shirt. Percy knelt down and looked at her. "What's wrong, Sophia?"

"I don't feel good," Sophia complained. "I feel like throwing up,"

"What's wrong?" Artemis asked, genuinely concerned for the demigod.

"She's not feeling well," Percy said.

"Me too," Annabeth said with an unpleasant groan.

Mary chuckled. "Something is going to happen," Mary said. "You'll feel nauseous when something is about to change in your dream,"

"Then why don't we feel something?" Hestia asked.

Mary shrugged. "Probably because you're immortals. I don't know about you guys, but I feel like throwing up. Maybe it's just because I'm near a certain immortal," Mary said, clearly meant for Artemis.

Artemis looked like she was going to rip Mary limb from limb, but she held herself back.

"I'd suggest you prepare yourself. You'll never know what'll happen after this," Mary said. As soon as she said that, there was an ear shattering roar that echoed through the skies.

"I thought you said nothing good or bad happens here," Artemis demanded.

"And I thought gods aren't supposed to be trapped in dreams," Mary argued. "Everything has its first, right?"

"Knock it off!" Percy said, effectively silencing both women. "Sister, please look after Sophia and Annabeth. Artemis and I will handle . . . whatever that's coming,'

"Oh, don't mind me," Mary said with a fake bored tone. "I'm not much use in a fight anyway."

"Glad you noticed," Artemis grumbled.

"Jack, just stay out of our way. We got this," Percy said.

Artemis stood next to Percy. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Artemis whispered.

"I need to separate both of you," Percy said with surprising harshness. "If you two fight together, you'll bring nothing but trouble and you'll just be in the way,"

Artemis felt a bit hurt at what she said, but she mentally slapped herself. Men have been insulting her for years, and she never did get hurt by them. She was just mildly annoyed to a point that she'll turn them to rodents. But Percy's words had an effect on her. Then again, Percy wasn't just some male. He was her boyfriend.

Artemis shook it off and tried to conjure up a bow for herself. Artemis had never fought without her powers before, nor had she fought without her physical abilities enhanced. In the Demos Oneiroi, she had no other choice but to rely on her true powers as a being instead of a goddess.

Great, now she feels nervous.

"Artemis," Percy's voice was soft. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Artemis said. "Why? Do I look bad?"

"Well, your hands are shaking," Percy said. Artemis looked at her hands and turns out, he was right. She was shaking. She was literally shaking. But why? She wasn't afraid. She didn't fear at what's coming at them.

Maybe it's the fact that her body knew that she was vulnerable. After being immortal for a few millennia, you kinda get used to how it can keep you alive and make you the greatest warrior alive. But being mortal made her feel so exposed.

"I'm fine," Artemis shook it off. "I'm just not used to fighting here."

Percy leaned in and kissed her softly. "Be careful, okay?" Artemis just rolled her eyes, but she smiled.

Then, the sky shattered, literally, like glass. The shattered pieces of the sky just dissipated into nothing as something descended through the hole in the sky. Beyond the shattered sky was something that looked like an endless void of darkness with purple ambient streams of light. Percy had a feeling that if he go there without any plan, he'll never see the light of day again.

From the hole on the sky, a trail of black smoke came down like waterfall and poured all over the Dream Meadow. When it stopped, the smoke swirled around, forming the figure of a man in a hooded robe. It made its way towards them slowly. Percy couldn't see anything under the robe, but he did feel some kind of power rolling off of him.

A familiar power.

"What a pleasant surprise," The hooded man said. His voice was so awfully familiar that Percy tensed. Artemis, being connected to Percy, felt his uneasiness. "I never thought you'd be foolish enough to go into this realm while awake."

"Are you the one behind this?" Percy said in a steely tone. A pitch black sword materialized itself in Percy's hand.

The man whistled and clapped his hand. "You've learned how to do that. Congratulations."

"I can also show you how being chopped in pieces feels like," Percy growled. "If you tempt me any further,"

The man laughed. "I think my master doesn't appreciate you talking about his form like that,"

"Your master," Hestia said. "You work for Kronos?"

He rumbled with laughter. Percy interrupted his laughter as he moved forward with super speed, slashing at the ground where the man used to be. Now, he was way further back.

"You seem angry," The man said in an amused tone. "Did something tick you off, God of Time?"

Hearing that name somehow struck a nerve in Percy. Artemis felt his rage in her and she wanted to gut the man on her boyfriend's behalf, but she held herself back.

"I know you, don't I?" Percy said. The man didn't show it, but Percy was sure he was a bit tensed that Percy might've remembered him. "Reveal your face,"

"Now why would I do that?" The man said.

"Because if you don't, I'll make sure I'll remodel your face so badly that it'll never look the same again," Percy said, his rage building up. He gripped his sword tightly.

"I'd like to see you-" The man dissolved into the shadows as jumped from behind Percy and struck her scythe right where he had been standing, interrupting what he was going to say. The man reappeared further back than where Percy was. "That was rude. Can't you see that we're talking?"

"You were taking too long," Mary said. "Plus I'm annoyed by your voice."

"Who knows?" The man chuckled. "My looks can be charming,"

"Yeah, but your voice is still shitty," Mary countered. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I've just come by to say that your efforts are useless," The man said. "By the time you reached any of the gods, they'll be reduced to nothing but a puddle of ichor."

"Gods can't die," Artemis argued. "Not in real life or a dream,"

"But their minds can," The man said evilly. "Should a god be tortured mentally in his dream, his sanity will slowly fade away. It doesn't matter if you're immortal or not. You can't run Olympus while being a nut job."

Artemis fired an arrow from behind Percy. Percy expected the man to dodge it, but he just stood still as the arrow flew right past him, not even close to where he was. Percy felt Artemis's feelings, and they were confused. Artemis tried again and this time, the arrow soared above the man's head, missing its mark once again.

"What's wrong, Artemis?" The man said, clearly amused at Artemis's inability in archery. "I thought you were the Goddess of Archery?"

"You wanna face me or are you just going to keep running?" Percy challenged so that Artemis wouldn't feel to bad about it. The man chuckled at Percy.

"I don't fight with a disadvantage," The man said. "You outnumber me,"

"They won't bother us," Percy promised. "It's just us, one on one. Or are you too scared?" By the way the man tensed, Percy knew he had eaten the bait. Percy didn't plan on fighting him, but this was a chance to know who it was behind the hood.

"I've got some time to kill," The man said. He held his hand out. A long sword appeared in his hand, but it felt different. It looked like any other sword to Percy, but it gave out a weird aura. It's like feeling two magnets with the same polarity being forced together.

"Your sword," Percy said. "What is it?" Without answering, the man rushed forward, bringing his sword downwards. Percy, being used to fighting without powers, blocked the sword with his. He was surprised at how strong the force behind the blow was, but he held it. Percy pushed the man away and countered with his own strike as he spun around, meeting the man's sword mid swing.

"Free for all, right?" The man said as he pushed Percy's sword away. The man's sword turned into a giant metal mallet, which looked like only a Cyclops could lift it.

So, there was no way for him to smash him with it, right?

Just as he thought that, the man swung the mallet with ease, sending him flying and crashing fifteen meters from where he had been standing. Although this was just a dream, that hurts like hell. Artemis grunted in pain as she buckled over.

"Artemis!" Hestia said and rushed towards her. Percy couldn't let her get hurt, which means he couldn't get hit anymore. He stood up unsteadily and shook of the dizziness in his head. Mary was watching the fight intently as she gripped her scythe tightly.

"So, that's how you play it, huh?" Percy said weakly. Without his immortality, his stamina had been reduced greatly, but he had something up in his sleeve. "I'd like to see how you'll keep up with me,"

"Give it your best," The man challenged.

Percy conjured up two identical swords in both of his hands, both of them being very light. "Keep up, will you?" Percy grinned. Percy moved forward and did something that was basically hard to keep up, never mind you're an immortal or not.

Using both swords, Percy sliced, hacked, slashed and stabbed at every angle possible at the man, who had trouble blocking everything. Percy was moving so fast that there might've been two of him. Before running out of stamina, the man backed out of their engagement, breathing heavily.

His robe was shredded from Percy's attack and he might've been bleeding. "You win this time, Percy," The man said. With sudden realization, Percy knew who it was. It struck Percy the moment he called him 'Percy'.

"Luke? Is that you?" Percy whispered for only him to hear.

The man tensed, not believing that his identity has been discovered, but her growled as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The exhaustion washed over Percy like a big wave as his knees buckled, his limbs being numb and his joints were in pain. He would've fell face first onto the grass if it wasn't for Mary who caught him before he reached the ground.

"I got you," Mary said. Percy was surprised at the gentleness of her voice, being how she used to be a serial killer. "Damn, you really gave him an ass whooping,"

"And I hurt my own ass in exchange," Percy joked weakly.

**Line Break**

The Dream Meadow surprisingly shifted into nightfall, which was, well, surprising. Even Mary didn't expect it.

"Maybe with all these things going on, things are changing around here." Mary concluded. They were too busy to think about it, so they settled with that conclusion. They sat around a bonfire ringed with stones, which kept them warm. They had no idea how they would even feel cold in a dream, but the fire gave out comfort.

"Are you okay, Percy?" Sophia asked her father, clearly worried about him.

"I'm fine, Sophie," Percy said. "Why don't you go sleep with Annabeth and Artemis? She makes a really soft pillow,"

"I heard that," Artemis grumbled.

Percy chuckled. "Go on ahead, Sophia. She won't bite." Sophia nodded and crawled over at Artemis. Artemis smiled at her and let her sleep beside her. The reason Artemis liked Sophia so much was because she looked a lot like Percy, which was something she was still dwelling on until this day forward.

"Get some rest," Mary said. "I'll take first watch,"

"Do we even need to be on guard at the Dream Meadow?" Percy asked.

"Things are changing," Mary reminded him. "I don't know if anything will show up again, but I wouldn't risk it."

Percy agreed. He scanned around to find Hestia was already sleeping in her sleeping bag, which she had conjured up. Percy had no idea what she's dreaming about, but she didn't seem to be in pain. Percy had no idea what it feels like to dream in a dream, but he'll soon find out.

Sophia and Annabeth were curled up in a ball with Artemis, all three girls sleeping intently. If Percy hadn't known better, he might've mistaken them for sisters. Percy smiled at the sight of them sleeping.

"That kid," Mary gestured at Sophia. "Is she yours?"

Percy's body tensed when she said that. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Percy," Mary said. "Sophia's your kid, isn't she?"

Percy glared at Mary. "If anyone finds out . . ."

"I'll keep quiet," Mary said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Don't get your balls in a twist,"

Percy ignored her weird comment. "When did you realize?"

"It wasn't that hard to guess," Mary said. "She looks a lot like you, she acts like you and you seemed to care for her. I don't know how the others hadn't realized that." Percy sighed at her explanation. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Excuse me?" Percy asked.

"Clearly, you're in a dilemma," Mary said. "Talking about it would make you feel better."

"I'm not sure if I trust you,"

"I don't trust you either," Mary said. "And I'm the murderer. But hey, we've got nothing better to do and I've been trapped underground for almost two hundred years. I need something to keep me not bored."

Percy raised an eyebrow at her curiosity, but didn't think much of it. "Well, she's seven. Her mom died while giving birth to her,"

"Her mom," Mary said. "Did you know her?"

"Yeah," Percy sighed. "Her name was Emily. I really did care for her, but I had to leave. I wouldn't have if I knew she was pregnant, but she didn't tell me anything."

"What do you think about her decision? Were you grateful that she didn't tell you, or were you angry?"

Percy stared into the flames. The light made him look scary. "Honestly, I don't know. When I found Sophia and knew she was my daughter, I was surprised. I kinda felt angry because she hid it for me, but then at the same time, I felt grateful."

"You can't understand women that easily," Mary admitted. "Which is why I disguised in being a guy,"

"And killed plenty of innocent people?"

Mary's body tensed at the question as she looked at Percy. "They weren't innocent," Mary argued. "They had their own shares of sins." Mary looked like she was going to cry.

"And that's a good reason for you to kill them?"

Mary stared at the flames, like she was pondering on what Percy had said. Maybe she did a mistake. Maybe the people she killed didn't have to die, but it was too late now.

"How about I take the first watch," Percy offered. "Go ahead and sleep,"

"Don't be stupid," Mary said. "You're exhausted. You need to sleep,"

"I'll be fine," Percy said. "Just go ahead and sleep."

Mary seemed reluctant, but for some reason, weariness came over her and her eyelids became heavier. "Fine," She finally grumbled. "But wake me up if something happens,"

"We'll see," Percy said.

**Line Break**

None of them really woke up for their shift, because Percy let them sleep. Artemis and Mary were annoyed by this, so naturally, they nagged him.

"What were you thinking?" Artemis asked. "Don't you care about your own health?"

"It's like you don't depend on us," Mary muttered.

"It's not like that," Percy said. "I couldn't sleep,"

"I couldn't sleep sometimes," Annabeth muttered. "But it usually means I had to pee,"

"You're not helping, Annabeth," Percy rolled his eyes. "The point is, something happened and I couldn't sleep about it,"

"What do you mean?"

"Look," Percy pointed at the spot where the sky shattered, revealing the empty space beyond. Something was shining far away into the void. It looked like a really bright star. "That thing emerged this morning,"

"What is it?" Artemis asked. "A threat?" They all looked at Mary for answers.

Mary shrugged. "My guess is that it's someone else's dream. We can't be sure whose, but you know it belongs to someone."

"Can we go there?" Hestia asked.

"Are you kidding? The distance between here and there is really far away. You'll take a shorter time if you ride a bike around the world twice." Mary said. "The only way of getting there fast enough is by sleeping in the real world and waking up in their dream."

"Since of what's happening, I assume we can't wake up again," Percy said. "So, any plans?"

"How did that smoke guy travel here from another dream?" Sophia asked.

"Time and space aren't very different, Sophia," Annabeth rolled her eyes as if this was obvious. "The man said he worked for Kronos, right? Kronos's domain is time, so he must have some influence over it so that man could travel through space."

They all stared Annabeth, dumbfounded.

"What?" She simply replied.

"I can't believe a seven year old is smarter than all of us combined," Mary chuckled.

"A seven year old who happens to be a child of Athena," Annabeth said proudly.

"Indeed you are," Hestia ruffled the girl's head. "So, we have an idea on how to travel through the dream space. Any idea how to do it?"

"Well, the only person here who has influence over time is Percy," Artemis stated out. Sophia tensed a bit at Artemis's statement, but luckily, no one noticed. "So I think Percy will be the key benefactor."

"Why do I always get the hard work?" He whined. "Well, I don't know how we're supposed to travel through space with my powers, considering none of them work in this realm."

"How come that guy can use his powers with ease, and yet we can't?" Artemis grumbled. "That's not fair."

"Being a Titan has its perks, I guess," Percy said.

"So, unless we figure a way to move around the power barrier rule, we're not getting off this place." Mary said. "Back to square one,"

"Not really," Percy said. "I have a plan, but you're gonna have to close your ears,"

Everyone frowned. "Why?"

"Because you won't remember this anyway," Percy said. "So it's better if you heard nothing. Just trust me,"

Artemis knew Percy well enough to trust what he's doing, but she is curious. "Let's just do what he says for now," Artemis said. "There'll be time for questions later."

"Oh, by the way," Percy said. "As soon as we reached where we are headed, I won't be in any shape to defend myself. So I'm gonna have to rely on you guys."

"Why?" Mary asked.

"Like Artemis said, there'll be time for questions later." Percy grinned. "Now close your ears and stay close to me."

They moved in closer behind Percy and closed their ears with their hands. Percy started chanting some kind of words that seemed . . . different. Even with her ears closed, Artemis knew that if she heard those words, she wouldn't be able to remember them anyway. Just like before they went into the Demos Oneiroi.

Percy said something about an Egyptian God killing him if he used their powers anymore. Mary also said something about Percy using a foreign power.

She didn't want to think much about it, so she just watched as Percy chanted. He raised his hands and a golden barrier formed around them. Something floated around them that appeared to be balls of light. Artemis looked closer at the balls of light and realized that there's more to it than meets the eye. She looked closer to see some kind of symbols in the balls of light. Some shaped like an eye and some shaped like a crane.

Artemis couldn't take it anymore, so she opened her ears just slightly.

". . . Thoth, God of Time, to lend us your powers for our safe journey to keep the forces of Chaos at bay." Percy finished. He looked back at the group and said, "Hang on!"

Everything went by in a blur, literally.

It took only a second for them to zip through space and arrive in another dream. They landed with a sudden halt that everyone tumbled onto the ground, groaning and grunting.

"I thought immortals couldn't get sick," Artemis muttered as her face turned green.

"Apparently, we do," Hestia said, not feeling to well.

Annabeth and Sophia was in the process of throwing up while Mary just brushed herself up, but she wasn't feeling too good as well because she wobbled a bit as she stood up.

Percy received the worst of it.

He was curled up in a foetal position, shivering and sweating. He kept grunting and wincing in pain. Artemis felt a bit lightheaded herself. "Percy!" She shouted as soon as she saw him.

"I'm okay," Percy muttered. "Just, a bit in pain,"

"A bit?" Mary asked. "That's what you get for using someone else's power,"

"I thought I told you to close your ears," Percy said weakly.

"That thing might affect anyone in a pantheon, but I'm a normal mortal. So, I remember clearly what happened and what I heard," Mary said.

"What did you hear?" Annabeth asked.

"It's best that you don't know, kiddo," Mary smiled apologetically.

"Well, at least we're making progress," Percy said as he sat up. "Where are we?"

They scanned their surroundings for the first time. It looks like they were somewhere in Greece during the ancient times. Surprisingly, it was vaguely familiar.

"Is this . . . Mount Olympus?" Artemis asked.

Percy nodded stiffly. "If I remembered correctly, this was before you were born, Artemis."

"Olympus before I was born?" Artemis asked. "It doesn't look much different other than the fact everyone's wearing ancient clothes."

"Oh, Olympus is very different," Hestia said. "Much more conflicts back then than there is now,"

"So, who are we looking for here?" Percy asked.

"No idea," Hestia offered. "We're gonna have to do some searching."

"Well, you guys can go," Percy said. "I'm gonna take a nap here,"

"What?"

"I've told you before," Percy reminded. "I won't be in any shape to defend myself. Right now, I can barely move,"

"We'll just have to wait, then," Artemis said.

"No," Percy argued. "The Olympians are in danger. Go and save them and don't let me drag you down. I'll be fine in a few hours. Just go and search for the others,"

"And you leave you here alone?" Hestia asked. "I will not agree with this, brother,"

"I'll stay with him," Sophia offered.

They looked at her expectantly. "Will you?"

Sophia nodded. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of him,"

"See? I'm going to be okay," Percy grinned. "Now shoo,"

This is going to be fun.

**A/N: At least I updated this faster than before. I was afraid that most of you would lose interest in this story by now, with the update rate it currently has. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed this. Leave a review.**

**Please.**

**Take care guys.**


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